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By the way, here is a funny point: if you see someone (in a Humanities academic conference) who is "apparently" talking about a topic freely in a skillful manner, it's more likely than not that they are reading from a pre-written text, although they are able to disguise it by adding several short remarks that give it the impression of being more "natural". Likewise, all of those TED presenters are actually reading from teleprompts, but they had to rehearse the whole thing 20 times or more, so it's easier to "disguise" the fact that they are reading a carefully-prepared text.

By the way, here is a funny point: if you see someone (in a Humanities academic conference) who is apparently talking about a topic freely (NOTE: I regret the use of the word "freely", see comments below) in a skillful manner, it's more likely than not that they are reading from a pre-written text, although they are able to disguise it by adding several short remarks that give it the impression of being more "natural". Likewise, all of those TED presenters are actually reading from teleprompts, but they had to rehearse the whole thing 20 times or more, so it's easier to "disguise" the fact that they are reading a carefully-prepared text.

1. The "bread and butter" of the Humanities is the deep analysis of textual materials, leading therefore to a focus on describing minute details, rather than just summarizing one's results. Difficult fields such as Philosophy and Religious Studies require a very high level of precision in regards to the terminology employed, the definition of terms, and the method for exposing one's arguments. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for the audience to adequately apprehend the topic and its many nuances, or provide any meaningful discussion or debate around it. For example, on an average Humanities presentation the speaker is often required to quote numerous textual passages without any mistakes, and do what is called a "close reading" of those passages, which requires the use of very precise language. These two things alone tend to push people into reading texts, rather than talking more spontaneously. It's already challenging enough to talk about things such as Ontology, Proto-Indo European or Esoteric Buddhism, now try doing it on a strict 20-minute limit, without any text to guide you along the way. By reading a text verbatim, the speaker can have enough time to hone the text beforehand, and make it as clear and well-structured as possible. This helps everyone in the audience to stay on the same page. For instance, if you show a mathematical equation such as e=mc2, everyone in the audience will probably grasp the idea perfectly without any ambiguity. But if you mention a concept such as "Dasein", the whole audience will immediately produce 10-20 different meanings, because this term (and many others like this) has been interpreted in numerous ways by different authors. This kind of situation generally forces the speaker to be much more careful about what they say, and how they say it. Regarding disciplines that are more oriented towards the social sciences, and who do not engage all that much with textual materials (Archaeology, anthropology, sociology, etc.), there is less tendency to read written texts.
2. To allow for adequate simultaneous translation and improve inclusivity of non-English native speakers. It has become more and more common to conduct conferences (both online and offline) that include speakers talking in different languages, thus requiring the temporary hiring of translators. Whenever translators are involved in a conference, having a prepared text can go a long way to reduce costs and make sure that the quality of the translation is at its best. This also makes conferences more inclusive for speakers and attendees coming from non-Anglophone regions.
3. There is a desire for speakers to have their papers reviewed by experts and gat them published in printed form as soon as possible. It is often the case that a presentation at a humanities conference is the first step towards writing a full paper and submitting it to a good journal. Since draft papers for popular conferences must be submitted and reviewed in detail by the session chairs, this provides a precious opportunity for getting valuable feedback from experts. I have often seen actual papers published in reputed journals, where the "Acknowledgements" section says something like this: "The contents that comprise this paper are significantly revised versions of two presentations made at Conference A and Conference B; I would like to thank the session chairs and the following attendees who provided valuable comments: (Person A); (Person B), etc." In addition, it is very common for the session chair to invite some of the speakers to publish their papers as book chapters (or as a special edition of a journal) within a book that they are currently editing. I myself have been invited by a session chair to publish my papers for a few times, after my presentation was over.
4. Having detailed papers in advance allows for mutual discussion between session speakers. Before the session takes place, it is not rare for the session chair to distribute all papers among the presenters. In some conferences, the presenters are even expected to meet for breakfast with the session chair to talk about each other's papers, and then during the session itself, there might be a part where the session chair and presenters give comments or questions about each other's work in front of the audience. although not all conferences do this, it does help to build up friendship between presenters and sometimes leads to research collaborations.

1. The "bread and butter" of the Humanities is the deep analysis of textual materials, leading therefore to a focus on describing minute details, rather than just summarizing one's results. Difficult fields such as Philosophy and Religious Studies require a very high level of precision in regards to the terminology employed, the definition of terms, and the method for exposing one's arguments. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for the audience to adequately apprehend the topic and its many nuances, or provide any meaningful discussion or debate around it. For example, on an average Humanities presentation the speaker is often required to quote numerous textual passages without any mistakes, and do what is called a "close reading" of those passages, which requires the use of very precise language. These two things alone tend to push people into reading texts, rather than talking more spontaneously. It's already challenging enough to talk about things such as Ontology, Proto-Indo European or Esoteric Buddhism, now try doing it on a strict 20-minute limit, without any text to guide you along the way. By reading a text verbatim, the speaker can have enough time to hone the text beforehand, and make it as clear and well-structured as possible. This helps everyone in the audience to stay on the same page. For instance, if you show a mathematical equation such as e=mc2, everyone in the audience will probably grasp the idea perfectly without any ambiguity. But if you mention a concept such as "Dasein", the whole audience will immediately produce 10-20 different meanings, because this term (and many others like this) has been interpreted in numerous ways by different authors. This kind of situation generally forces the speaker to be much more careful about what they say, and how they say it. Regarding disciplines that are more oriented towards the social sciences, and who do not engage all that much with textual materials (Archaeology, anthropology, sociology, etc.), there is less tendency to read written texts.
2. To allow for adequate simultaneous translation and improve inclusivity of non-English native speakers. It has become more and more common to conduct conferences (both online and offline) that include speakers talking in different languages, thus requiring the temporary hiring of translators. Whenever translators are involved in a conference, having a prepared text can go a long way to reduce costs and make sure that the quality of the translation is at its best. This also makes conferences more inclusive for speakers and attendees coming from non-Anglophone regions.
3. There is a desire for speakers to have their papers reviewed by experts and get them published in printed form as soon as possible. It is often the case that a presentation at a humanities conference is the first step towards writing a full paper and submitting it to a good journal. Since draft papers for popular conferences must be submitted and reviewed in detail by the session chairs, this provides a precious opportunity for getting valuable feedback from experts. I have often seen actual papers published in reputed journals, where the "Acknowledgements" section says something like this: "The contents that comprise this paper are significantly revised versions of two presentations made at Conference A and Conference B; I would like to thank the session chairs and the following attendees who provided valuable comments: (Person A); (Person B), etc." In addition, it is very common for the session chair to invite some of the speakers to publish their papers as book chapters (or as a special edition of a journal) within a book that they are currently editing. I myself have been invited by a session chair to publish my papers for a few times, after my presentation was over.
4. Having detailed papers in advance allows for mutual discussion between session speakers. Before the session takes place, it is not rare for the session chair to distribute all papers among the presenters. In some conferences, the presenters are even expected to meet for breakfast with the session chair to talk about each other's papers, and then during the session itself, there might be a part where the session chair and presenters give comments or questions about each other's work in front of the audience. although not all conferences do this, it does help to build up friendship between presenters and sometimes leads to research collaborations.

As someone linked to the humanities as well as applied sciences, there are a few reasons for reading a paper verbatim at conferences.

1. Time constraints: humanities scholars are famous for rambling endlessly, losing track of the key point, and going way beyond their allotted time. Therefore it has become more and more common to see reputed conferences demanding their presenters to submit beforehand to the session chairs not just the paper draft, but even the presentation slides as well (if they exist). These are then reviewed by the session chair(s) who will recommend edits and changes. Unsurprisingly, most of the proposed changes are for cutting down parts of the text and to tighten up things, in order to make sure that the spoken text can fit within the allotted time. Despite all of these strict precautions, there are still a few cases where the presenters completely lose the thread during the presentation, and start rambling, only to be unceremoniously shut down at the end of their time.
2. Difficult fields such as Philosophy and Religious Studies require a very high level of precision in regards to the terminology employed, the definition of terms, and the method for exposing one's arguments. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for the audience to adequately apprehend the topic and its many nuances, or provide any meaningful discussion or debate around it. For example, on an average Humanities presentation the speaker is often required to quote numerous textual passages without any mistakes, and do what is called a "close reading" of those passages, which requires the use of very precise language. These two things alone tend to push people into reading texts, rather than talking more spontaneously. It's already challenging enough to talk about things such as Ontology, Eschatology or Esoteric Buddhism, now try doing it on a strict 20-minute limit, without any text to guide you along the way. By reading a text verbatim, the speaker can have enough time to hone the text beforehand, and make it as clear and well-structured as possible. This helps everyone in the audience to stay on the same page. For instance, if you show a mathematical equation such as e=mc2, everyone in the audience will probably grasp the idea perfectly without any ambiguity. But if you mention a concept such as "Dasein", the whole audience will immediately produce 10-20 different meanings, because this term (and many others like this) has been interpreted in numerous ways by different authors. This kind of situation generally forces the speaker to be much more careful about what they say, and how they say it.
3. It has become more and more common to conduct conferences (both online and offline) that include speakers talking in different languages, thus requiring the temporary hiring of translators. Whenever translators are involved in a conference, having a prepared text can go a long way to reduce costs and make sure that the quality of the translation is at its best. This also makes conferences more inclusive for speakers and attendees coming from non-Anglophone regions.

By the way, here is a funny point: if you see someone (in a Humanities academic conference) who is "apparently" talking about a topic freely in a skillful manner, it's more likely than not that they are reading from a pre-written text, although they are able to disguise it by adding several short remarks that give it the impression of being more "natural". Likewise, all of those TED presenters are actually reading from teleprompts, but they had to rehearse the whole thing 20 times or more, so it's easier to "disguise" the fact that they are reading a carefully-prepared text.

EDIT: Forgot to add one more reason. It is often the case that a presentation at a humanities conference is the first step towards writing a full paper and submitting it to a good journal. Since draft papers for popular conferences must be submitted and reviewed in detail by the session chairs, this provides a precious opportunity for getting valuable feedback from experts. I have often seen actual papers published in reputed journals, where the "Acknowledgements" section says something like this: "The contents that comprise this paper are significantly revised versions of two presentations made at Conference A and Conference B; I would like to thank the session chairs and the following attendees who provided valuable comments: (Person A); (Person B)"...

2nd EDIT: I would like to clarify that my answer should be interpreted within the context of Humanities academic conferences, especially those that deal in detail with the analysis and interpretation of textual sources, such as Paleography, Literary Criticism, Ancient History/Global History, etc.

As someone linked to the humanities as well as applied sciences, yes, it is very common for papers to be read, although the number of conferences that actually force you to read verbatim is fairly limited. In the large majority of conferences, speakers have as much freedom as they want to deviate from the written text, so long as they are able to successfully convey the key points included in it. I think most presenters in the Humanities would agree that just reading a text verbatim and doing nothing else to engage the audience is not a great look, but somewhat acceptable. It is possible to make good presentations, regardless of whether one reads a text, or speaks spontaneously. In the end, I would guess that Humanities scholars are more interested in debating the actual evidence, rather than focusing on the presentational skills of the speaker. So this answer is not intended to defend the practice of reading texts, just to explain why it happens.

Having cleared this up, there are a few reasons for reading a paper verbatim at (some) conferences.

1. Tradition. There is a long-established tradition of reading one's research before an audience that goes back all the way to the 17th century (and in some places, all the way back to the Late Middle Ages!) at the time when the first official Societies and Academies of Science were established in France and other parts of Europe. The normal thing to do was for a speaker to read the text before an audience, and soon after the text would be published in the Bulletin of the Academy and sent to all of its members who could not attend the presentation. These printed speeches are now considered to be extremely precious historical documents, because they are the only remaining testimony of the research done by those researchers. After their death, their notes and personal documents were often lost. Many printed presentations have crucial research about long-lost tribes and languages which would be impossible to replicate today. Even today, many presentations are prepared in advance with the intent of getting them printed somewhere (more on this below).
2. It helps to maintain overall time schedules (to some extent) in this current paradigm of large-scale international conferences: humanities scholars are famous for rambling endlessly, losing track of the key point, and going way beyond their allotted time. Therefore it has become more and more common to see reputed conferences demanding their presenters to submit beforehand to the session chairs not just the paper draft, but even the presentation slides as well (if they exist). These are then reviewed by the session chair(s) who will recommend edits and changes. Unsurprisingly, most of the proposed changes are for cutting down parts of the text and to tighten up things, in order to make sure that the spoken text can fit within the allotted time. Of course, this alone cannot guarantee that everything will go smoothly, and I do regularly see some delays with read texts. At the end of the day, we (the audience) are all at the mercy of the speaker's presentational skills, regardless of whether they read a text verbatim or speak freely.

EDIT: This section here is intended to refer to an interesting paper (from the 90's) posted by Szabolcs (included in this thread) about the frustrations of holding conferences, with time delays, bored, unenthusiastic people, and not all that interesting discussions. This paper is an opinion piece, and I'm sure that you can find just as many people who would agree as well as disagree. The key point I want to emphasize here is that the actual scale of conferences these days is much bigger now.

In the past, it was sufficient for a conference to simply use the lecture halls of a university, and even though time was wasted, it was not such a big problem. However, the largest humanities conferences today have reached such a scale that they often need to rent actual large-scale conference spaces, because not only are there more graduate students presenting now, but there are also many more people coming from abroad to attend and present as well. It should also be kept in mind that Humanities conferences don't usually have the same large budgets as some hard science fields. There are severe financial penalties for not closing the venue at the contracted time, so those conferences are much more strict about requesting texts in advance, reviewing/editing them in advance, and also preparing the session chair's response in advance.

All I can speak about is my personal experience: I have presented at three types of large-scale conferences (those that ask to read verbatim, those that give you complete freedom, and those that give you some freedom, but ask you to not deviate too much from the text). The scale of these conferences is approximately 100-140 speakers total, over 3-4 days. In the case of the conferences that ask speakers to stick closely to the written text, I do see some delays, but overall things tend to go more smoothly, without too many bumps. As for the conferences that had no restrictions (always held on university lecture halls), they were pretty much disasters from start to finish (although I did see a handful of excellent speakers).

1. The "bread and butter" of the Humanities is the deep analysis of textual materials, leading therefore to a focus on describing minute details, rather than just summarizing one's results. Difficult fields such as Philosophy and Religious Studies require a very high level of precision in regards to the terminology employed, the definition of terms, and the method for exposing one's arguments. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for the audience to adequately apprehend the topic and its many nuances, or provide any meaningful discussion or debate around it. For example, on an average Humanities presentation the speaker is often required to quote numerous textual passages without any mistakes, and do what is called a "close reading" of those passages, which requires the use of very precise language. These two things alone tend to push people into reading texts, rather than talking more spontaneously. It's already challenging enough to talk about things such as Ontology, Proto-Indo European or Esoteric Buddhism, now try doing it on a strict 20-minute limit, without any text to guide you along the way. By reading a text verbatim, the speaker can have enough time to hone the text beforehand, and make it as clear and well-structured as possible. This helps everyone in the audience to stay on the same page. For instance, if you show a mathematical equation such as e=mc2, everyone in the audience will probably grasp the idea perfectly without any ambiguity. But if you mention a concept such as "Dasein", the whole audience will immediately produce 10-20 different meanings, because this term (and many others like this) has been interpreted in numerous ways by different authors. This kind of situation generally forces the speaker to be much more careful about what they say, and how they say it. Regarding disciplines that are more oriented towards the social sciences, and who do not engage all that much with textual materials (Archaeology, anthropology, sociology, etc.), there is less tendency to read written texts.
2. To allow for adequate simultaneous translation and improve inclusivity of non-English native speakers. It has become more and more common to conduct conferences (both online and offline) that include speakers talking in different languages, thus requiring the temporary hiring of translators. Whenever translators are involved in a conference, having a prepared text can go a long way to reduce costs and make sure that the quality of the translation is at its best. This also makes conferences more inclusive for speakers and attendees coming from non-Anglophone regions.
3. There is a desire for speakers to have their papers reviewed by experts and gat them published in printed form as soon as possible. It is often the case that a presentation at a humanities conference is the first step towards writing a full paper and submitting it to a good journal. Since draft papers for popular conferences must be submitted and reviewed in detail by the session chairs, this provides a precious opportunity for getting valuable feedback from experts. I have often seen actual papers published in reputed journals, where the "Acknowledgements" section says something like this: "The contents that comprise this paper are significantly revised versions of two presentations made at Conference A and Conference B; I would like to thank the session chairs and the following attendees who provided valuable comments: (Person A); (Person B), etc." In addition, it is very common for the session chair to invite some of the speakers to publish their papers as book chapters (or as a special edition of a journal) within a book that they are currently editing. I myself have been invited by a session chair to publish my papers for a few times, after my presentation was over.
4. Having detailed papers in advance allows for mutual discussion between session speakers. Before the session takes place, it is not rare for the session chair to distribute all papers among the presenters. In some conferences, the presenters are even expected to meet for breakfast with the session chair to talk about each other's papers, and then during the session itself, there might be a part where the session chair and presenters give comments or questions about each other's work in front of the audience. although not all conferences do this, it does help to build up friendship between presenters and sometimes leads to research collaborations.

By the way, here is a funny point: if you see someone (in a Humanities academic conference) who is "apparently" talking about a topic freely in a skillful manner, it's more likely than not that they are reading from a pre-written text, although they are able to disguise it by adding several short remarks that give it the impression of being more "natural". Likewise, all of those TED presenters are actually reading from teleprompts, but they had to rehearse the whole thing 20 times or more, so it's easier to "disguise" the fact that they are reading a carefully-prepared text.

EDIT: I would like to clarify that my answer should be interpreted within the context of Humanities academic conferences, especially those that deal in detail with the analysis and interpretation of textual sources, such as Paleography, Literary Criticism, Ancient History/Global History, etc.